


Last Wish

by asofthaven



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Magic AU, demiromantic Kuroo, transboy Kuroo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 17:38:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4188855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthaven/pseuds/asofthaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bokuto's a genie who's shit at using his magic. Kuroo's his accidental master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Wish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [keptein](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keptein/gifts).



“This is the _second_ time you’ve done this,” Kuroo said. Any anger was lost in the fact that he was still spluttering with laughter, waving the plastic three ring binder in his left hand. “When I said I wanted a new _binder_ —”

Bokuto inhaled deeply, puffing his chest like that would do anything at all to make him look more serious. Kuroo just laughed harder, feeling a sharpness in his ribs from laughing for so long.

This, he reasoned, was probably the entire reason he needed a new binder in the first place. Finding Bokuto—or more specifically, Bokuto’s lamp—had been a surprise to begin with. Finding out that Bokuto was a genie that couldn’t control his magic for shit was definitely the bigger surprise, though.

“I told you,” Bokuto said, probably trying for commanding but coming out as petulant, “this magic thing is hard to control!”

“You just granted me four of these things,” Kuroo said, still snickering, “I don’t need that much school supplies, y’know?”

Bokuto huffed, seamlessly turning the wisp of his lower body into proper legs so he could make a big deal out of walking forward and jabbing Kuroo’s arm.

“At least this time it was close!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kuroo drawled, grinning, “But close isn’t right, and I still need a new binder.”

Bokuto’s frown shifted suddenly into a smile. “Hey, hey, hey, I can go with you to get a new one!”

“What?” Kuroo asked, momentarily taken aback.

“You said you hate going into those stores by yourself, right?” Bokuto said, “So I’ll go with you!”

Which was how they ended up lost in the dingy part of Tokyo approximately two hours later, taking refuge in a coffeehouse that looked more like a front for something shoddy than an actual cafe. There was purple smoke coming out from under the door marked ‘Employees Only’ and Kuroo was seriously considering using his last wish on getting them the fuck away from here, hesitated only because he wasn’t sure that wouldn’t end with them landing somewhere worse.

“Bro, what happened to your cellphone?” Bokuto asked in a loud whisper once the coffee they ordered was put down in front of them. It looked completely normal and that put Kuroo on edge. “You gotta use your maps app or something. Call Kenma. Call _anyone_.”

“It died somewhere between here and that river with the mermaids,” Kuroo said in something closer to an actual whisper, tapping the cracked screen of his phone like it might squeeze some life out of it, “Aren’t you the genie? Shouldn’t you be the one figuring out how to magic us outta here?”

“I told you,” Bokuto said, slumping onto the table and resting his chin on his arms, “I can’t use my magic unless you make a wish. You wanna use your last one on this?”

Kuroo frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back. “Hey,” he said, staring at Bokuto’s slumped form with something worrying the edge of his ribs, “What happens, after I make the third wish?”

Bokuto looked up, cocking his head to the side slightly.

“Like, do you,” Kuroo struggled, suddenly finding it very hard to fathom the next thought, “leave?”

He hadn't realize just how used to Bokuto's presence he'd become since accidentally becoming the genie's master, hadn't noticed how he craved Bokuto's presence until now. It was slightly worrying.

“No, no,” Bokuto said hurriedly, sitting up straight, “I mean, I won’t be able to grant your wishes anymore—”

“You can’t even do that now, dude.”

“—but I’ll still be around. Probably.”

“Probably?”

Bokuto fidgeted slightly. Even in his human form, Bokuto leaked energy, like there was magic forcing its way out through swooping gestures and verbal ticks.

“I mean, I’ve heard that the moment you use up your wishes, me and the lamp will reappear somewhere else,” he said, “but I’ve also heard we stay in the same place and become unable to answer our old master’s wishes.”

“Wait,” Kuroo said, drawing the word out as the thought occurred to him, “You mean this is your first time out of the lamp?”

Bokuto scrunched his nose in thought. “No, I’ve had other lamp-holders.”

Kuroo frowned, swirled his suspiciously-normal-looking coffee to give his hands something to do. “Well, what happened last time you granted three wishes?”

Bokuto grinned sheepishly. “I dunno, actually.”

“What?”

“I can’t remember,” Bokuto said, “I just remember waking up to you looking about ready to piss yourself when I came out of the lamp.”

Kuroo scoffed. “I wasn’t that freaked—”

“Dude, you totally screamed. You scared _me_.”

“You came out of that lamp looking like a bad Arabian Nights extra,” Kuroo said, fighting down a grin, “I screamed for your lack of fashion, not fear. You’re lucky my clothes fit or I’d still be screaming.”

Bokuto blinked before laughing, a full-bellied sound that had him doubled over the table. Kuroo felt a snicker rise in response, and then he was laughing loudly, too, inhales coming in unattractive snorts while the barista looked over with a fine line between her brows.

_Magic leaves marks_ , Kenma had said once, and Kuroo didn’t quite get it then—he’d never been the magical one of his friends. He was the lone human among witches and were-creatures, and magic had always been a thing out of reach for him. He marked full moons on his calendar and hung out with Kenma during late night potion-making, but magic had never been _real_ to him.

It made a little more sense now, though, with Bokuto sitting across from him in the world’s most run-down cafe and managing to make the air seem just a little bit lighter with the way he grinned.

They dared each other to drink the coffee as they lingered, hiding speculations about the coffeehouse’s true purpose behind their mugs, and never quite managing to stifle their laughter at the looks the barista and other customers threw at them.

“Alright,” Bokuto said, standing and flattening a palm on the table once it was dark outside and the lightposts began flickering to life. “I’ll ask the barista how to get out of here. Don’t want you to waste your last wish, after all!”

It took a moment for Kuroo to remember how to grin; he’d forgotten, momentarily that their companionship was on a deadline, that the moment he used his last wish, Bokuto could be gone.

“Yeah, thanks,” Kuroo said, drawing circles on his phone screen and wondering absently how long he could go without making a wish.

 

Kuroo was having trouble understanding what it meant, that the thought of Bokuto leaving sent something unpleasant plummeting in his gut. It was almost as baffling as the fact that Bokuto gave Kuroo’s cunning a reckless edge and energetic warmth.

“You fell in love with your genie,” Kenma said after Kuroo explained his problem. It wasn’t a question.

“I didn’t,” Kuroo retorted, pausing while he pulled the phone charger from the wall so he could switch spots before saying, “but this might be pretty close?”

He really wouldn’t know—he’d never been in love before, and had never anticipated that ever changing. Kuroo wasn’t completely convinced it _had_ changed, but it was undeniable that what he felt for Bokuto was something he’d never felt before.

Kenma gave a little noncommittal hum. “So, not romantic love.”

“No,” Kuroo said, then, a little less sure, “Probably not. Mostly not?”

“You want to stay with him, though, don’t you?” Kenma asked, kindly glossing over Kuroo’s uncertainty.

Kuroo frowned. “Yeah,” he said after a moment, “but it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it?”

He could picture Kenma’s slight shrug as he responded, “It’s as simple as that, too.”

 

“Hey, Bokuto,” Kuroo said, tapping the lamp twice. Bokuto appeared immediately, forming out of a glittery gold and white cloud. He blinked twice as his legs formed, amber eyes bright with some sort of magical residue that fascinated Kuroo.

“What’s up?” he asked, settling onto the couch with a heavy thud. He was grinning, but something seemed off about the expression. “Got your last wish already?”

_Last wish_ , Kuroo thought, an unidentifiable feeling resurfacing—it felt like regret, but Kuroo hadn’t said anything yet, hadn’t done anything but observe the way Bokuto’s shoulders were lower than than usual, his grin a false hundred watts.

“If I were, hypothetically, to wish for you to be free of the lamp,” Kuroo started slowly, “What would you do?”

Bokuto stared at him, eyes wide with surprise. “Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

Bokuto grinned, slow and wide and giving Kuroo all the answer he needed before Bokuto said anything.

“It should be obvious, right?” he asked. He shot forward, nearly toppling Kuroo over with the sudden collision of a hug. “I’d stay here with you!”

 

It was the first wish Bokuto got perfectly right.

**Author's Note:**

> -sweats nervously- I hope you enjoyed, keptein!!


End file.
